The Restoration Of The Jews

TTe wcro told a few diys 2:0 thnt nu oíd project had reoently heen revived at Constantinople, and that 1I10 Porto, despairing of ralsing money in nny ord'mary vr&y, had .offered to sell Palestino to the Jewish Alliance - of cour-e Cor cash down - and to allow the restoration of Uie Jcws as a peoplo to their own land. The country wouïd bc declaredapriticipality, with a Jewish priiioc or president, guaranteed ntriinst interference ao long a.s a lixed tribute was rogularly paii). We üd not. and we do not, believe the story, wbich wou KI be inost unacceptnble to the religiona party aniong Mohammedans, and probably owoa ita origin to the hopefulness of sonio stilden ts of prophecy among oursel ves ; but it is consiantly revived, and most Engiishmen seeni unaware of the diffloultiea in tiic way of such a project. ïhey wou ld have üt( le motive in going to Judea, where there are 110 cities, 110 business, and 110 attractions of clmiaie forthein: andeven if a strong relig ious or historie impulso drew tliem there tliey wou ld fina endless difficul tites. We sinijioïc h guveiimw m ■ rnttt be organized, thougli it is remarkable that the nation has no great family in its midst universally accepted as" its representativa house; and no aritocracy except the repu led descendaiita of the activo section of the Levites. Tlie two great houses of the Jews, in the political sense - the House of David and the Asmoneans - have perished uticrly, the last prince of the Captivity, who was by universal tradition Hebrew, and we think, by evidence of the royal line, dying at Cadiz iu tho sixteenth century ; and persecution to a great extent wore down all dislinctions of grade, though Jewish fumilies once great iu Spain do, we believe, exist. istill, a government could bo formed, but the difficulty wou Id be a people. Judea is a country which might be prosperóos, bcautiful, and fertile, if it were "improved" for half a century - that is, if the hills wero ï-eplanted, if the water supply were renewed, and if the soil were resolately cultivated and manu Thoy might obtain Arab help, anc1 gradually extend themselvcs, but in tf ie existing circiunstances of tlie world a Jewish kingdoin or republic on tho southe'istern shore of tho Mediterrauean, with the deert behind it and no cirrying trade - lor that trade will go by sea i f tlie Dukte of Sutherland builds railways from now till A. IX 20U0- wou ld be a rather feeble and povertystricken aiï'air, not halï'so attractive to the comnnuiiily as tho great cities which the northern barbarians, who Avere savages when the }iliiccabees were encouraging learning, have built np in the West. We fear tlie Jews of En. gland will prefer London to the delicious sky of Byria, and that it will not be giveu to tliis age, which has seen so many nitions rise and fall, to witnesti the i'cstoration oí tho Jews to Falestiue, and therenewal of the daiiy sacritice 011 Mount Moritth.